The term “Chin” is imprecise. It is a Burmese word (khyang), not a Chin word. It is homologous with the contemporary Burmese word meaning “basket”, but I am informed by Professor G. H. Luce of Rangoon that it is in fact an old Burmese word (khyan) meaning “ally or comrade” (Luce, 1959b). No single Chin word has explicit reference to all the peoples we customarily call Chin, but all-or nearly all- of the peoples have a special word for themselves and those of their congeners with whom they are in regular contact. This word is almost always a variant form of single root, which appears as zo, yo, kseu, seu, and the like. The word means, roughly, “unsophisticated”. A few groups in the Southern Chin Hills have adopted a variant of the term “Chin” for themselves.

Dr. F. K. Lehman, The Structure of Chin Society, 1980,
2nd Edition, p.3